Emerging Synergies
A New Alliance between Museums and Comic Art: A Synergistic Initiatve Merging High Art and Low Art
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Michael Picone
After taking on greater-than-ever prominence in recent years as an inspiration to cinematic production, comic art (that is, comic books and graphic novels) is now also being exploited by a growing number of museums in new ways, in an effort to enhance contemporary cultural relevancy and, in some cases, establish new revenue streams. The interaction is particularly intriguing when it constitutes a post-modern alliance of "high art" with "low art". The interaction is complexified because graphic narrative is a sequential form of art; hence, an exhibition runs the risk of reducing sequential art on display to the selective, decontextualized presentation of individual panels, thereby elevating the isolated image over the whole of the narrative in a way that betrays the art form itself. On the other hand, art museums and their contents, in what constitutes a new initiative of considerable interest, readily lend themselves to quite unrestricted, plastic interpretations in the media of comic art. In light of the foregoing, this study focuses on the collaboration between museums and comic art, with special (but not exclusive) emphasis on series of bandes dessinées commissioned by the Musée du Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay (both in Paris) based on those museums and their collections, and also on a collaborative volume of Italian fumetti based on ancient artifacts housed at the Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia in Rome.
Dancing Museums : A Case Study on the Use of Contemporary Dance as an Educational and Active Participation Tool in Museums
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Elena Terranova
Dance and museum sectors have traditionally existed independently. Recently, however, a cross-sectoral collaboration has started growing rapidly. This paper investigates the innovative ways in which contemporary dance is being employed in museum settings, to facilitate new forms of audience engagement and participation. By employing a case-study approach, this study closely investigated the Dancing Museums project (2015-2017) - a partnership between museums and dance organisations across Europe co-funded by the EU’s Creative Europe programme. In which ways can dance, as a performative art, be used in museums as an educational and active participation tool? This research question was answered through collecting primary qualitative and quantitative data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with key actors involved in the Dancing Museums project, whilst an evaluation carried out with events’ participants was studied through employing statistical methods. The project’s findings showed that the approach of combining dance and visual arts was beneficial for the institutions studied and successful in terms of public’s outcomes. The research demonstrated that dance, interpreted as a language and communicative form, is an effective alternative (or supplementary) medium to the verbal and written communication that museums traditionally employ. By tactfully employing dance, the project’s partners can help audiences to create their own meanings and interpretations through enhancing their understanding of arts. The paper argues that dance, as a kinaesthetic art, can enable museums to deeply engage with diverse audiences, especially kinaesthetic learners, and enrich the museum visitors’ journey; it can transform museum visitation into a more experiential, multisensorial and inclusive experience.
Interplay: Using Theatre to Promote Inclusion in the Museum
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session David Hopes
One of the most formidable barriers to inclusion is from within the museum itself. This paper looks at the process of delivering an innovative theatre project at the Georgian House, Edinburgh. ‘Enlightenment House: A Play in Five Rooms’ was commissioned by the National Trust for Scotland for an eighteenth century property in the centre of Edinburgh’s New Town which, despite the city’s success in attracting visitors from around the world, had low visitor numbers. However, the museum has a large and loyal group of local volunteers. The aim of Enlightenment House was to widen the demographic of visitors and to try out a different model of visitor engagement, but in a very conservative social environment. The project encountered some resistance from internal and external stakeholder and this paper examines what can be learned from leading cultural change in traditionally change-resistant organisations. In doing so it will articulate an aspect of the scope of the conference, the ‘blurring of roles, between the person in command and the person consenting, between producers and consumers of knowledge, and between creators and readers of culture.’ It explores three conference sub-themes, competing cultures, voluntarism and professionalism, and competing pleasures (‘entertainment’ and ‘edutainment’) with practical lessons on trying out challenging new projects.
Disrupting E-race-sures in the Art Museum: Beyoncé Performing “APESHIT” at the Louvre
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Joni Acuff, Dana Carlisle Kletchka
In summer 2018, U.S. vocal artists/superstars Beyoncé and Jay-Z released the video for their song “APESHIT,” which was filmed almost entirely in the galleries of the Museé du Louvre in Paris, France. In this paper we analyze the APESHIT music video through the lenses of Black Feminist Thought and post-critical museology and offer implications for art museum education. We position APESHIT as a form of autobiographical performative museum pedagogy (Garoian, 2001), as a critical mining of the dominant curatorial narratives inscribed in the galleries, and as an intervention intent on countering the erasure of Black women’s bodies in art museums. We identify three distinct ways in which Beyoncé and a troupe of professional mostly Black female dancers perform counternarratives in the Louvre galleries to disrupt longstanding, colonialist notions of power. Further, the video exemplifies the ways museums can play a central role in connecting history with the contemporary, as well as push narratives regarding social and racial positionings. We conclude by suggesting that APESHIT is a corrective to the longstanding “e-race-sure” of Black women’s bodies in art museums. This study speaks specifically to visitor diversity in the inclusive museum.
